Sometime in 1945, Gein later recounted, he and his mother visited a man named Smith, who lived nearby, to purchase straw.

According to Gein, Augusta witnessed Smith beating a dog. What bothered her did not appear to be the brutality toward the dog but the presence of the woman.

He occasionally worked for the local municipal road crew and crop-threshing crews in the area.

Sometime between 19, he also sold an 80-acre parcel of land that his brother Henry had owned.

He is buried next to his family in the Plainfield Cemetery, in a now unmarked grave. Augusta despised her husband, an alcoholic who was unable to keep a job; he had worked at various times as a carpenter, tanner, and insurance salesman.

George owned a local grocery shop for a few years, but sold the business, and the family left the city to live in isolation on a 155-acre farm in the Town of Plainfield in Waushara County, Wisconsin, Edward left the farm only to attend school.

He boarded up rooms used by his mother, including the upstairs, downstairs parlor, and living room, leaving them untouched; while the rest of the house became increasingly squalid, these rooms remained pristine.

He died at Mendota Mental Health Institute of cancer-induced liver and respiratory failure at age 77 on July 26, 1984.

She preached to her boys about the innate immorality of the world, the evil of drinking, and her belief that all women were naturally prostitutes and instruments of the devil.

She reserved time every afternoon to read to them from the Bible, usually selecting graphic verses from the Old Testament concerning death, murder, and divine retribution.

Outside of school, he spent most of his time doing chores on the farm.